1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a portable dispenser-container containing contents in a wet condition and contents in a dry condition, such as wet tissues and dry tissues. More specifically, the present invention relates to a portable dispenser-container, from which the wet tissues and the dry tissues contained therein can be individually dispensed one by one, and especially, it can be repeatedly opened and resealed for wet tissues required to be hermetically sealed.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Recently, wet tissues, i.e., fibrous materials impregnated with cleaning solution such as alcohol, have been utilized widely for cleaning dirt from hands or other body portions. Such wet tissues packed in a cylindrical container are used at home or shops, and wet tissues contained in a small dispenser-container are sold for portable use and are widely used.
Although wet tissues are convenient for cleaning skin or make up, their usage has been limited since they are in a wet condition. In other words, in some cases, they cannot be used in place of dry tissues. Accordingly, it is necessary for users to take dry tissues as well as wet tissues in the outdoors.
Either the wet tissues or the dry tissues may often be left behind, if a user wants to have both a small dispenser-container of wet tissues and a small dispenser-container of dry tissues. Accordingly, a portable pack wherein both wet tissues and dry tissues are available is convenient.
An example of such a portable pack is disclosed in Japanese Utility Model Publication No. Sho 57-60399. In the pack disclosed in this publication, wet tissues and tissue paper are contained in a bag-like pack made of a water impervious resin film in such a manner that both the tissues are laterally in parallel, and the central portion of the pack between the wet tissues and the tissue paper and the peripheries of the pack are heat sealed. The pack is intended to be folded at the heat sealed central portion.
Since the portable pack disclosed in the above-described Japanese Utility Model Publication No. Sho 57-60399 has a construction as described above, the industrial manufacture of the pack is difficult.
More specifically, when the portable pack disclosed in Japanese Utility Model Publication No. Sho 57-60399 is intended to be manufactured, wet tissues and tissue paper have to be laid on a lower resin film while they are laterally in parallel, and an upper resin film provided with dispensing openings for the wet tissues and the tissue paper is supplied onto the laid wet tissues and tissue paper, and then the central portion between the wet tissues and the tissue paper and the peripheries of the pack are heat sealed to form a bag.
However, in such a manufacturing process, when the wet tissues and tissue paper are laid on a lower resin film while they are laterally in parallel, liquid with which the wet tissues have been impregnated may leak or flow out, and the adjacent tissue paper may be wetted and deteriorated.
In addition, portions to be heat sealed on the resin film may also be wetted, and the heat sealing may be difficult.
Although the peripheries of the pack can be heat sealed with relatively ease, heat sealing at the central portion between the wet tissues and the tissue paper can not be done well unless the positions of the wet tissues and the tissue paper are precise. Accordingly, the wet tissues and the tissue paper must be precisely supplied to the predetermined positions on the lower film, and the displacement of the materials must be prevented while they are transferred to the sealing station. These steps require very complicated control and adjustment, and in actual fact, satisfaction of these requirements is very difficult. Thus, continuous manufacture of such packs is practically impossible.
In an alternative process for manufacturing the above-described packs, a bag with one open side is prepared by sealing three peripheries of the pack and the central portion, and after the wet tissues and the tissue paper are inserted into the bag through the open side, the open side is heat sealed to form a portable pack.
However, it is difficult to automatically insert tissues, especially wet tissues, into the bag, and accordingly, continuous manufacture of the packs is impossible. Accordingly, the cost of the above-described pack is expensive.
In addition, the portable pack disclosed in the above-described Japanese Utility Model Publication No. Sho 57-60399 is a four-sided seal pack, wherein the peripheries of the three sheets are sealed together, the pack having hard peripheries. Accordingly, it is not easy for a user to handle the pack since the hard portions in the pack may contact the user's hand. Further, the size of the pack may be voluminous depending upon the size of the sealed peripheries as compared with the total size of the contents and the necessary tolerances.
Further, the portable pack disclosed in the above-described Japanese Utility Model Publication No. Sho 57-60399 is folded at the heat sealed central portion when it is carried. However the pack as a whole is bulky because the wet tissues, the tissue paper and the four thick films are stacked and because the folded portion has a tendency to open. Thus, a compact dispenser-container for portable use is required.
The present applicant previously proposed in Japanese Patent Publication No. Sho 58-41842 a dispenser-container, wherein three sheets are used, two of which are used to provide a bag and the other of which is used to provide a partition, and are superposed, and the four peripheries of the sheets are sealed while the dry contents and wet content, sandwiching the partition therebetween, are inserted into spaces between the sheets.
Since the portable pack disclosed in the above-described Japanese Patent Publication No. Sho 58-41842 is a four-sided seal pack wherein the peripheries of the three sheets are sealed together, the pack has hard peripheries. Accordingly, it is not easy for a user to handle the pack since the hard portions in the pack may contact the user's hand. Further, the size of the pack may be voluminous as determined by the size of the sealed peripheries as compared with the total size of the contents and the necessary tolerances.
When the dispenser-container disclosed in Japanese Patent Publication No. Sho 58-41842 is manufactured, the contents in a dry condition are disposed on a sheet-like material, and then, a sheet-like material for the partition is laid over the contents, and thereafter, the contents in a wet condition are disposed on the sheet-like material used for the partition. In such a stacked condition, the peripheries of the three sheets are heat sealed. Since the two kinds of contents are stacked via a partition or since the three sheets are simultaneously heat sealed while the two kinds of contents are sandwiched therebetween as described above, adjustment for continuous manufacture is relatively complicated. Especially, when the thickness of the contents is large, the stacked contents may be displaced. Accordingly, in this case, it is necessary to enlarge the sizes of the sheets relative to the contents contained in the pack. Therefore, it is difficult to obtain compact dispenser-containers.
In addition, the present applicant proposed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. Sho. 61-203305 a method of producing a dispenser-container containing two kinds of contents, wherein the first contents, for example the contents containing the wet materials, are contained in an inner container provided with a dispensing opening and a flexible flap. An opening is formed in a sheet which will form an outer bag, the position of the opening formed in the sheet for the outer bag and the position of the flap of the inner bag coinciding while the inner container and second contents are stacked. The stacked inner container and the second contents are then wrapped by the sheet for the outer bag and the outer bag is formed.
According to the method for producing a dispenser-container disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. Sho. 61-203305, a process is necessary in which the first contents are contained in the inner container which is provided with an opening and a flexible flap for releasably covering the opening. After this process, it is necessary for the inner container, which hermetically contains the first contents and the second contents, to be wrapped by a sheet for forming the outer bag. Thus, the manufacturing process may be lengthy and productivity is not high.
Further, according to the method, the position of the opening of the sheet for the outer bag and the position of the flap of the inner bag have to coincide with each other while the inner bag and the second contents are stacked. The adjustment upon the manufacturing operation is relatively complicated. Further, since the inner bag itself constitutes a perfect resealable dispenser-container, the finally obtained dispenser-container containing two kinds of contents may be bulky, because of the longitudinal seal when the inner bag is of a pillow type, or because of the sealed peripheries when the inner bag is a four-sided seal pack.
3. Objects of the Invention
The present invention was achieved taking into consideration the above-described problems inherent to the prior art and characteristics required for a dispenser-container for containing wet contents and dry contents.
An object of the present invention is to provide a dispenser-container containing wet and dry contents, by which the above-described problems inherent in the prior art can be obviated.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a dispenser-container containing wet and dry contents, which is inexpensive, compact and easy to handle for portable use.
Still another object of the present invention is to provide a dispenser-container containing wet and dry contents, which is simple in construction and compact and which can be manufactured easily at a low cost.
A further object of the present invention is to provide a process for continuously manufacturing such a dispenser-container.
A still further object of the present invention is to provide an apparatus for performing the process for continuously manufacturing a dispenser-container of the present invention.